Études et Travaux was established in 1966 as a series of the Centre for Mediterranean Archaeology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Études et Travaux / Centre d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne de l’Académie Polonaise des Sciences, ISSN 0079-3566). Since 2011 it has been published as an annual of the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Études et Travaux / Institut des Cultures Méditerranéennes et Orientales de l’Académie Polonaise des Sciences, ISSN 2084-6762). From 2014 it is also an Open Access journal, available in electronic form (e-ISSN 2449-9579) on the periodical’s website.
Since its first issues, Études et Travaux has been open to the international academic community, and all articles were in English, French and German (in the past also in Italian or Russian). The aim of the journal has always been to publish articles on the ancient, classical and early medieval/Islamic cultures of the Mediterranean Basin, the results of research by Polish and, increasingly in recent years, international scholars.
Études et Travaux was established at the initiative of Professor Kazimierz Michałowski, the founder of the Polish school of Mediterranean archaeology. It has retained the same academic profile over the 50 years of its existence. During this period, it has been run by such renowned researchers as Dr Marek Marciniak, Professor Zsolt Kiss and Professor Karol Myśliwiec. For many years (2001–2016), Dr Maciej G. Witkowski was the journal’s Editor-in-Chief. Since 2017, this function has been performed by Dr Maciej Makowski. For more on the history of Études et Travaux, see Karol Myśliwiec’s article entitled ‘(ET=EtudTrav/50) x 30’, published in volume XXXI of the periodical.

For many years, the publication of Études et Travaux was financed by the State Committee for Scientific Research / Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The Ministry also financed (within the framework of the 715/P-DUN/2016 agreement) the digitalisation of volumes XIX–XXVI. The publication of volumes XXX-XXXIV has in its entirety been financed within the framework of a five-year project entitled “Poszerzenie umiędzynarodowienia i rozwój obcojęzycznego czasopisma Études et Travaux (Centre d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne de l’Academie Polonaise des Sciences)” [The Further Internationalisation and Development of the Foreign-Language Journal Études et Travaux (Centre d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne de l’Academie Polonaise des Sciences)] (reg. no.: 3bH 15 0099 83; agreement no.: 0099/NPRH4/H3b/83/2016). Études et Travaux has also received funding from the programme of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education “Development of scientific journals” for the years 2022–2024 (project no. RCN/SP/0612/2021/1).